Maad a Sinig Maysa Wali Jaxateh Manneh

Maad a Sinig Maysa Wali Jaxateh Manneh (Serer proper : Maysa Waali Maane, many variations : Maysa Waaly Dione, Maïssa Wali Dione, Maysa Wali Jon, Maissa Waly Mané, etc.) was a king described in the oral tradition of the Serer pre-colonial Kingdom of Sine and the first of the Guelowar maternal dynasty to rule in Serer country. He reigned as Maad a Sinig (king of Sine) from to 1370.

In reporting this tradition, Henry Gravrand did not notice that this is actually a description of the 1867 (or 1865) Battle of Kansala although the departure of the Guelowar can probably be explained by a war or a conflict of succession. Whatever the reason, they apparently left Kaabu around 1335. As a result of these royal marriages, the old Serer paternal dynasties survived but the Wagadou maternal dynasty (Bagadou in Serer language), collapsed.

The Wagadous were princesses from the Ghana Empire who had married into the Serer royal families i.e. the Joof family, Faye family, Ngom family, etc. After the demise of the Wagadous, they were replaced by the Guelowars. The Serer dynasties survived until 1969 when the last king of Sine and Saloum died.

Although many of the Serer nobility and common people supported the election of Maysa Wali, not every member of the Serer establishment were in support of his election. In this regard, Lamane Pangha Yaya Sarr, according to Serer tradition, stood out as one of the fervent opponent to Maysa Wali's election. According to the tradition, the Lamane viewed Maysa Wali as a foreign prince who did not have a Serer mother or father. In spite of Maysa Wali's long service to the noble Council, assimilation to Serer culture, his adherence to religion with even his own Pangool, reference to his long reign (20 years), used by his successors who were eager for him to abdicate so they could succeed to the throne. It was not an empire built on military conquest. According to the epics of both Ndiadiane and Maysa Wali, it was Maysa Wali who elected Ndiadiane Ndiaye and called upon all the Senegambian kings to co-operate with Ndiadiane and join the confederacy which they did. That was ten years after Maysa Wali sat on the throne - 1360 (the year of Ndiadiane's reign ). Maysa Wali is thus seen as a prominent figure in the formation of the Jolof Empire and the election of Ndiadiane. According to Charles Becker, Victor Martin the Jolof Empire was probably founded in order to repulse the dominant power at the time (the Mali Empire). However, Maysa Wali is also viewed by the Serer establishment as the king who took the Serer Kingdom of Sine to this confederacy, a confederacy though initially voluntary, its disestablishment in 1549 was not.

Legacy

As the first Guelowar to rule in Serer country, Maysa Wali leaves a mixed legacy among the Serers and some scholars. It was previously believed that, the Guelowars, headed by Maysa Wali, launched a war in Serer country, defeated the Serer people and reduced them to a conquered race. That assumption was challenged in 1972 when Niokhobaye Diouf argued that there is nothing in the Serer oral tradition nor in the Guelowars' that speaks of a military conquest.

From a Serer perspective, Maysa Wali is usually regarded as one of the great kings of Sine who upheld the doctrines of Serer religion,